WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police have seized 20 pit bulls from what they called a puppy mill.

Police Lt. Steve Kenney says the dogs were found Saturday inside a home in west Wichita.

Kenney says the animals were in good health and were being used for breeding. It is illegal to operate puppy mills within city limits.

The Wichita Eagle reports one dog with a microchip was returned to its owner. The other 19 dogs — seven grown adults, four young adults and eight puppies — were taken to the city’s animal control unit.

The Kansas Humane Society says the adult dogs will be up for adoption after they are spayed or neutered. The puppies will be placed in foster homes until they are 2 months old.

No one has been arrested.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Wyandotte County authorities say a suspect in a robbery with a large knife has been shot by police, resulting in injuries police described as life-threatening.

Lt. Kelli Bailiff said that police were called to a Dollar Tree store around 1:30 p.m. Thursday and a Westwood police officer confronted a man down the street from the store. Bailiff said that police ordered the man to drop his knife, but he refused.

According to authorities, the Westwood officer deployed his stun gun but it had no effect and a deputy then shot the man. The man, who has not been identified, was taken to a hospital.

An investigation is ongoing.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas health officials have confirmed the first flu cases in the state for the current flu season.

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment says the four cases were reported by a south central Kansas hospital.

Health department secretary Susan Mosier reminds Kansas residents it’s not too late to get a flu vaccine. The vaccines are recommended for nearly everyone 6 months or older.

The department says this season’s flu vaccine appears to be a good match to the circulating influenza viruses.

Flu or pneumonia contributed to or was the direct cause of 1,153 deaths in Kansas during the 2014-2015 flu season. Influenza and pneumonia were the eighth leading cause of death in Kansas in 2014.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Two men charged in a fatal shooting at a 2014 house party in Wichita have been sentenced.

The Wichita Eagle reports that Dametrius Williams was sentenced Thursday to about 17 years in prison for second-degree reckless murder and criminal discharge of a firearm in the death of 20-year-old Juan Orona. Christopher Cooper was sentenced to 18 months of probation on a count of obstructing apprehension of prosecution. Both men were initially charged with first-degree murder.

Authorities say Orona was shot in the head as he sat in a parked car.

Prosecutors say Williams and Cooper were part of a group of men who arrived at a house on June 21, 2014, and caused an argument that led to Orona’s death.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama wants oil companies to pay a $10 tax for every barrel of oil to help fund investments in clean transportation.

Obama will formalize the proposal Tuesday when he releases his final budget request to Congress. The $10-per-barrel fee is expected to be dead-on-arrival among Republicans who control Congress and oppose new taxes and Obama’s energy policies.

Still, the White House hopes the proposal will drive a debate about the need to get energy producers to help fund efforts to fight climate change.

The White House says the fees would be used to increase funding by $20 billion per year for traffic reduction and new modes of transportation like high-speed rail. Other funds would help cut carbon dioxide emissions within regional transportation systems and integrate self-driving cars.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The two state mental hospitals in Kansas would receive an additional $3 million total in their current budgets under a proposal approved by a legislative committee.

The House Appropriations Committee added the money Thursday to budget legislation to help Larned and Osawtomie state hospitals fill staff vacancies and address other issues.

A total of more than 350 positions are vacant at the two hospitals, or about 38 percent.

Republican Rep. Will Carpenter of El Dorado said his proposal would let the Department on Aging and Disability Services determine how the extra money would be spent at the hospitals.

A critical survey of the Osawatomie hospital in November prompted the federal government to decertify it, costing the state between $500,000 and $1 million a month in federal funds.

JUNCTION CITY – A Kansas man was given two life prison sentences on Thursday.

James Henning, 39, Junction City, was sentenced in Geary County District Court on earlier convictions on multiple charges including two counts of Aggravated Indecent Liberties with a Child, three counts of Aggravated Criminal Sodomy, four counts of Sexual Exploitation of a Child, and one charge of Rape.

The charges from September 2014. The victim was his eight-year old daughter.

In court a tearful Henning apologized for his actions. As to why he committed the crime, he said if he knew he didn’t think he would be here ( in court ) now.

“I do not believe I am a bad person,” he said. “Regardless of my sentence I will pay for the crimes for the rest of my life. Words cannot describe my sorrow and regret.

Prosecutor Michelle Brown opposed any type of departure in sentencing, noting that life was the presumptive sentence on each count. She added letters written by Henning since his arrest showed no remorse, that he had blamed his eight-year old child for sexually provoking him, and still maintained he did nothing wrong.

Brown said there was nothing to justify a departure. The court did not grant s departure request.

Henning does have a right to appeal in his case.

Junction City police at his East 12th Street residence in Junction City arrested Henning on November 25, 2014.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A new legislative budget measure would limit the University of Kansas’ ability to spend unanticipated tuition dollars and extra special funds.

The provision approved Thursday by the Kansas House Appropriations Committee is a response to an arrangement that allowed the university to obtain $327 million in bonds to finance construction projects without lawmakers’ approval.

It would require the university to get legislative approval to spend unanticipated funds if collections exceed budgeted amounts during the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The university formed a nonprofit corporation which then had Wisconsin’s Public Finance Authority issue the bonds. University officials contend they complied with Kansas law.

But Republican legislative leaders are upset. The House committee’s budget provision is written narrowly enough to apply only to the University of Kansas.

BARTON COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Barton County are investigating two suspects in connection with drug crimes.

Just after 1 a.m. on Tuesday, the Hoisington Police Department executed a narcotics related search warrant at a residence in the 1000 block of North Clay Street, according to a media release.

Police found drugs and drug paraphernalia were located.

Cierra Ramsey, Hoisington, and Alisha Myers, Sylvan Grove, were arrested for drug related offenses and transported to the Barton County Jail on $10K bond.

Just before 6 p.m., the Hoisington Police Department conducted a search of a residence located in the 500 block of East 3rd Street where drugs and drug paraphernalia were located.

One person was arrested at the scene for an unrelated arrest warrant. This case has been sent to the Barton County Attorney’s Office for prosecution. The name of the second arrest has not been released.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Opponents of a measure that would consolidate school districts have expressed their opinions in a Kansas House committee meeting.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that the bill would require 98 of Kansas’ 105 counties to have one unified school district per county.

Twenty-two counties already fit that requirement. Kansas’ seven most populous counties would be allowed to have multiple districts if each has more than 1,500 students.

Tom Benoit, a member of a coalition of rural districts called Schools for Quality Education, said at a meeting Wednesday that any consolidation should be local patrons’ decision.

Democratic state Rep. John Bradford says Kansas residents are receiving incorrect information, making them believe the bill would close schools. Bradford defended his bill, saying it wouldn’t lead to the effect patrons of rural and small districts fear.

By ANDY MARSO

The state’s $3 billion privatized Medicaid system has been without an inspector general for more than a year. The Kansas Senate unanimously approved a bill Wednesday that would eliminate the position.

Senate Bill 182 as originally introduced would have changed the inspector general position for the program known as KanCare from classified to unclassified. Officials from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment requested that change to allow them to offer a higher salary because they said they were struggling to find qualified candidates at the classified salary level.

But Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, a Republican from Shawnee, said discussion in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee she chairs revealed bipartisan desire to go a different route.

“We discovered that the position was no longer needed,” Pilcher-Cook said.

Sen. Laura Kelly, a Democrat from Topeka, confirmed that she supported eliminating the position rather than making it unclassified. But she said that was due more to the effect of changing the job’s classification than a lack of need for KanCare scrutiny.

Unclassified state workers serve at the pleasure of the governor and can be fired for political reasons.

“If you unclassify that position, it provides even less protection from political pressure,” Kelly said.

Pilcher-Cook said that the new Kansas Eligibility Enforcement System computer program will alleviate some of the purpose for the inspector general position by preventing Medicaid fraud.

Kelly expressed skepticism on that front, pointing to a backlog of Medicaid applications that has grown since the long-delayed program went live last year.

“I’m not confident the KEES program has done much or will do much to streamline the application process or prevent abuse and fraud,” Kelly said.

The House has yet to consider elimination of the KanCare inspector general position.

Former legislator Phil Hermanson was appointed to the position in April 2014 but served only a few months before resigning amid questions about his background and qualifications.

The Senate also passed, 38-1, a bill that lessens penalties for first and second convictions for possession of small amounts of marijuana.

When House Bill 2049 came over from the House last year, it also included a provision legalizing low-THC marijuana oil for treating seizures.

But the Senate Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee stripped out the oil provision.

“We just did not feel comfortable dealing with medical issues in a committee designed to deal with criminal justice issues,” said Sen. Greg Smith, a Republican from Olathe who chairs the committee.

An amendment to fully decriminalize marijuana possession offered by Sen. David Haley, a Democrat from Kansas City, failed 5-31. Haley was the lone “no” vote on the underlying bill.

Rep. John Rubin originally introduced the marijuana penalties bill as an attempt to ease a prison bed space crunch. The Senate attached a measure that would fill those newly emptied beds by increasing the penalties for burglary.

Rubin said Wednesday that the changes may land the bill in a conference committee where House and Senate representatives will work on a compromise.

Andy Marso is a reporter for KHI News Service in Topeka, a partner in the Heartland Health Monitor team. You can reach him on Twitter @andymarso

RENO COUNTY – A Kansas woman was injured in an accident just after 1 p.m. on Thursday.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2014 Toyota Camry driven by Merla Cunday, 86, South Hutchinson, was eastbound on 4th Street just south of Hutchinson.

The vehicle left the roadway to the right, hit a concrete culvert and rolled into the south ditch.

Cunday was transported to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center.

She was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

RENO COUNTY – Law enforcement authorities in Reno County are investigating over twenty reports of metal pipes stolen from the corners of fences.

The reports are between Ave G and 30th east of Buhler Road, according to a social media report by the Reno County Sheriff’s office.

In addition to the damage to fences, the alleged thefts are potentially allowing livestock to escape if not discovered and repaired quickly, according to the Sheriff.

Residents with similar fence damage or any information on who may be involved are encouraged to contact the Reno County Sheriff’s Office.